Freedom
by emeralgreenlove
Summary: Jeb has raped Max since she was young after her mother walked out on them. Max becomes pregnant, escapes and ends up living next to Fang and his family. They become fast friends and she discovers she's not the only one with a painful past. Read along as Max re-joins the world we live in, tries to leave behind her horrible past, gains some friends and some loved ones. FAX. AU.
1. Escaping

**Freedom**

**Chapter One: Escaping**

**Hey! So this is my new story! Please give it a change and check it out.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the **_**original**_**plot of this story. Maximum and the other characters in the **_**Maximum Ride **_**series are the "property" of James Patterson. This is the first and only time that I will state this.**

**Enjoy and review!**

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><p>The waiting was killing me. I think those were the longest five minutes of my life. Those minutes made the difference between life and death, between me having a small creature growing inside my womb or not. They were crucial.<p>

The first of the two tests started beeping, telling me my results were ready.

Pregnant or not pregnant? Pregnant or not pregnant? The tests would tell.

I grabbed the little white stick-eyes closed. I counted to three and opened my eyes.

Two lines. Did that mean that I was pregnant or not? I looked at the instructions in the box.

_Oh, no. That meant I-_

Another beep broke into my thoughts. Although both of the pregnancy tests were different brands, they announced the same news: I was pregnant. Oh my. But I was barely an almost fifteen year old.

***_Remembering***_

I'd woken up this morning, earlier than usual. I'd been planning this day for a couple of weeks now. I'd gone over my plan over and over, making every little detail of the plan perfect . I had been so hyper, full of energy and restless.

I glanced down at my naked body and then looked at my sleeping father in disgust. How could a man take advantage of his own daughter this way? I would probably never be able to understand him or his actions.

I got up from the bed quietly. It was five thirty in the morning and who knows what he'll do if he gets woken up before the time he set up the alarm for. I made my way out of "our" room and was on the way into "my" room. You're probably wondering why I have the quotation marks on "our" and "my." Well, let me tell you. My father makes me sleep in his master bedroom, every single night. So he says that it's "our" room as if we were married, which after you get used to hearing it so much, isn't really such a big deal anymore. "My" room is the room I have my clothes and other things in. It's not really "mine" since I don't go in there too often. When I'm not in bed with my father, I always have to do something else. It's always something, either doing the laundry, mopping the floor, making his dinner and overall being his own personal slave and maid of the house.

I hate my life. There isn't brake from it. Ever. My father, Jeb, doesn't let me get out of the house unless it's to go in to our backyard. I don't go to school like normal kids would. Any kid my age would complain about school, but I wish I was lucky enough to be able to go to school. Jeb keeps me away from everything a normal teenage girl like me would do.

I've never entered high school. I never got the joy of having friends to share things with or someone to listen to me, much less a crush or a boyfriend. Other girls do a lot of things I've never been able to do. I've never worn make up or whatever I wanted, like skirts and dresses. I've always been one of those girls that are laid back and never really cared about what they're wearing, but I would at least like to have the choice.

I turned the light switch on in my room and glanced around.

The room looked lived in. The covers and the sheets at the bed were pulled back and some of the blankets were on the floor. A book was opened, facing down in the desk. There were papers around and a really old laptop. There were other things like a chair and a lamp and other crap I didn't use.

I locked the door-I know, the only person in the house had already seen me countless time naked, so why lock the door? I have my reasons.

I searched for some clothes. When I was dressed, I started putting my plan in action.

I made the bed, straightening everything out. I looked out of my small, small window. It was a gloomy day, like always. I would be really surprised if it turned out to be a sunny day.

I checked all my clothes. It was hard to decide what to take and what to leave behind. I had so much clothes, but, at the end, I took the less used ones and the ones I could definitely not leave behind. I folded them up and put them in a place in the back of my closet. I went over the mental list of the things I had. I hadn't used my laptop in a long time. I powered it up. I went to Word and wrote the list out (I didn't want to forget anything).

I went to the kitchen and started up breakfast on the kitchen. I'd been a horrible cook before, but Jeb decided this year that he wanted to take my maiden-ness to another level. Thank goodness I have he taught me how to cook and gave me the other chores to do, I would go crazy if I didn't have them. Not to mention starve.

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><p>I felt hands touching my butt through my sweatpants, his breath over my neck and the hands shifted all over my body. Again, it was something that was disgusting, but I'd gotten used to it. Jeb started sucking my neck. He turned me around to get a shot at my mouth.<p>

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><p>I had gotten a head start on my chores, so I was two-thirds done with them by the time I was completely sure he wasn't going to return home. I'd gone to the pharmacy store and gotten the two tests that had just been ... tested.<p>

After I stopped my mental freak out (for now, anyways), I continued my plan and acted like a good girl around Jeb.

I won't tell you all the details, I would probably corrupt your little, innocent mind. Let's just say that Jeb was very impressed with the dinner I made, I slipped something in his drink that made him a bit loopy and waited for the right time to give him a shot that made him "go" to sleep for twelve hours or more.

Where did you get the shot? you may ask. Well, I forgot to mention that Jeb, my _father, _is an evil scientist. He's job is in a lab and he has his own miniature lab in the basement, which is supposed to be locked up, but I got a way in and stole the serum. Before he decided to ... um, corrupt my innocence, he'd spent most of his time down there. Not so much anymore.

I packed up my things quickly into a backpack and two medium suitcases. They were kind of heavy but I was strong and if that was one of the things that would lead me to freedom, I would snatch it up along with the rest of it. As I packed my bags, I thought about what I was doing. This wasn't just about me anymore, now not only I was at risk of getting caught and getting a painful punishment, but I was also putting a baby through whatever I was about to do.

That was a very rare possibility. I wasn't seen outside-as, if, _ever. _Talk about claustrophobic, (that's another thing that made me want to escape). The neighbors weren't going to notice anything, since they pretty much kept to their own.

Anyways, back to me. I was almost fifteen and I was pregnant with my half brother or sister. Do you know how weird that sounds and feels, especially when it's just you that knows it. It's killing me. I really wished I now had, like, a fairy godmother or at least a friend or _someone _to be close to and to be able to know _everything _about me. Someone to share the burden with.

I now had everything I needed to make this trip. I had stolen tons of cash and stolen Jeb's main source of cash: his credit card. I knew his password. I would take all the money there was in there. I may not have taken eighth or ninth grade, but I'm not dumb. I know that the police can actually track you down whenever you use a credit card, so I'll use it before I leave town and get rid of it.

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><p>I glanced at myself in the bathroom mirror. When a pregnant woman has to go, she has to go, no matter what's going on in her life. At least that's what I'd heard, that pregnant women had to go to the bathroom more than they usually would.<p>

I now had a gray hoodie on. I raised the bottom of it and glanced at my flat tummy. I couldn't believe there was actually a baby living there. I'd been doing that a lot today, raising my shirt to check out my stomach. There wasn't a bump in sight, but I knew one would soon be there.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax my muscles. But how can you relax your muscles when you're ready to fight whatever's coming ahead, and start the fight sooner rather than later? How? I rubbed my stomach for the first time ever. I rubbed soft circles around it and glanced down to see if there was the slightest sight of a bump. There was just a small bump when I slouched, but that had always been there, it was something that showed that I wasn't actually starving myself.

I sighed. I put my shirt and hoodie back down and glanced at myself once more, deciding that this was my last time here. I quickly brushed my already straight and curly hair through with the brush once more and threw it into the backpack.

I'd changed clothes quickly. I was now wearing a long sleeved dark blue shirt, a gray hoodie, jeans and the black leather boots I love.

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><p>I grabbed my two suitcases and my backpack and opened the door. I glanced back with a small smile. I shut the door as quietly as I could.<p>

I quickly walked down the street. I didn't get out of the house much but I still knew my way around more or less. I took a bus to the other end of town, which took like an hour and a half. It was already around five when I'd left home so the sun was starting to set.

I went to the train station and bought a ticket. Since my train wouldn't leave for a good time, I went to a near by store and bought a sandwich, a coke and a two chocolate cookies. I went back to the train station and waited for the train that would carry me towards my freedom.

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><p>I been inside the train for around an hour now. So far my plan was going like it should be. So far, so good. I was reading a book I'd brought with me.<p>

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><p>I was almost to the end of the book when I gave in to sleep. I knew that it could make my plan more difficult to follow. I prayed that I could sleep peacefully until we got to my destination without interruptions, without crazy things coming after me.<p>

As I fell asleep I thought about what I would have to do to keep myself and this child alive. I needed to protect this baby. I'd heard about what other mothers had to say about their children, that they would die for them if they had to, would _I_ feel that way? Despite the child was conceived in misery? Would I love it? Would I hate it?

What we're we going to do? I could probably get a job somewhere, live under a bridge if I had to. In survival, there wasn't any room for comfort-or so I thought.

_God_, I thought. _Help us. You've seen what my father does to me. Please help me. Don't let them catch me. Help me make wise decisions. Help me be a good mother. Help me be a good person. Please help me out. Help me figure out what the next part of my plan is ... _I ran out of things to say. I wasn't one to pray- I rarely did. I had a lot of things going through my mind, but I thought that they wouldn't be things God had the time to listen to. If there really was a God out there, he would already know everything, so why would I repeat myself? _Amen._

**The Jeb/Max part is gross (trust me, it **_**disgusted**_** me to write it) but some of this happens in real life, right? On a happy note, I won't have to write anymore of it (I hope) and you guys won't have to read it.**

**Review!**

**XOXO,**

**emeralgreenlove**


	2. Dream, Memories and a Promise

**Freedom**

**Chapter Two: Dream, Memories and a Promise**

**Thank you very much to those of you who are awesome enough to read (and some of you who reviewed/favorite/alert). It means a lot to me. If you have any suggestions for this story (or any of my other stories) leave me a message and I might use it, I'll give you credit for it of course. **

**To the reviewer who said "Don't start every sentence with 'I.' " I tried my best not to, but there's so much I can do. I mean, there's nobody Max can really talk about since she's all on her own...**

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><p>"Young lady, young lady," someone's saying, but I can't move my body. I'm still in that zone where you're in a dream-like state. "Wake up, young lady."<p>

I squinted up at the sunlight. My head was laying down on a very fat pillow-my backpack.

A dark-skinned man was shaking me awake. He had his hands all over me. I flinched and shrugged away. I didn't like anyone touching me. Especially after what had happened with my father. I can't trust just anyone nowadays.

"Don't touch me," I said with unmeant coldness.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Miss, but we're at the train station already." I glanced around me. The train was almost empty, except for a few people. A mother with her four young kids, a woman around her late twenties or early thirties and a thirty- or forty- something year old olive skinned man. The thought that I was about to be completly alone with two men in an instant if the other woman left, made me bolt up right.

My fists ran across my eyes furiosly. I felt my face beneath my fingers. There were lines on one side of my face. I tried rub them off as best as I could. I thought of going to the train bathroom but turned against the idea since I wanted to get off the train as soon as possible.

I got up from the seat slowly and picked up my backpack. It felt heavy to me. My body wobbled a little under the weight.

The man touched my arm to steady me. I ripped it from his grasp. I recognized him as the train driver, now that I'd had time to think about it.

"Can you ... get my luggage. They are those two suitcases up there." I pointed at the top of the train. Where there were two suitcases, a black one and a red one.

"Sure, ma'am."

He stretched his arm out and took the black one down and the red one next.

"Thank you ... What's your name, sir?"

"You're very welcome, little lady. My name's John Johnson, what's yours?"

"You're kidding me. John twice." I swallowed and paused. "I'm ... Valencia or Val." It was the first name that came into my mind, that of my mother's.

John laughed. "I wish I was kiddin', but my folks weren't in their right minds. Valence isn't that great of a name either, young lady."

"Well, it was my grandmother's name. And it's _Valencia. _Besides, I'm part hispanic. I have an actual excuse. Do you?"

John chuckled. He looked like a fifty-year old dark-skinned old man that had an accent that might be from Texas or Tennessee. I was starting to like John. He actually seemed nice.

I glanced at my watch. Seven forty-two.

"I have to go," I said and walked down the aisle to the exit. I turned and gave John a half-wave.

"Little lady, are you sure that you don't need any help with those big suitcases of yours? They seem mighty big to me."

I thought about his offer. "Thank you, John, it's very nice of you but I'm good."

John nodded. "Bye."

"Bye."

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><p>I actually handn't had anywhere to go but I'd turned into a claustrophobic person and I'd really needed to go to a bathroom. I was now washing my face at the sink after I'd thrown up.<p>

Next mission: Find a place to eat, start searching for a job and a place to sleep tonight. It seems like such a big mission I don't know where to start. My stomach grumbled.

Now I know at least where to start...

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><p>By the end of the day I'd found out that I was somewhere near the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, but I was actually standning on North Carolina. I'd started out by searching for a job in a local library and in the newspapers; I'd printed out some stuff and was going to start calling tonight, but I was too tired to. I'd start doing it in the morning instead.<p>

My location rigth now a was a really old hotel that had seen better days. It didn't matter, though, because it was cheaper than the other hotels I'd checked out.

I was laying down in the twin-sized hotel bed trying to get some sleep.

The mission hadn't been as hard as I'd thought it would be, not after I bought a cellphone anyways. It was a high-tech gadget. You had to pay fifty dollars a month, but it was worth it. It took me a while to figure it out, but I'm a teenage girl in the twenty-first century, I figured it out.

I gave up on trying to sleep and went over to one of my suitcases. There was a brand-new pack of _Chips Ahoy! _inside I'd forgotten about. I felt my lips arrange themselves into a smile. Let me tell you something about me, I'm a chocoholic, meaning that I like almost everything chocolate, especially chocolate chips cookies.

I ate till my stomach hurt and my eyes were way too heavy for me to carry.

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><p>It was the same nightmare I'd had in the train.<p>

I was running from them and my father. They were big, ugly beasts with wolf-like faces and hairy bodies that could turn human when their morphing was over. They were called Erasers.

They were chasing me.

I ran and ran and at the end, I must have tired out because they caught up with me. In the dream, I was panting heavily but I was still running, trying to get away.

At the end, I was sorrounded in a semi-circle of Erasers that looked like rabid dogs. I was at the end of a cliff.

My only options were: either go back to father-which was like going back to hell with the devil, or jump off a very tall cliff.

I thought I was doomed. My father would punish me for my escape. Maybe he would go easy on me this time-yeah, right. Maybe pigs would be able to fly.

I didn't know if I'd be brave enough to do it in real life, but Dream Me knew she could.

She threw herself off the cliff.

She opened her wings that had white and brown feathers in them, which were also _my _wings.

That was the end of it.

I assume I made it to where I was going to go, but I couldn't help but worry.

What if it was a premonition?

I shoved the dream into the back of my mind. Worrying wouldn't do me any good. The best thing I could do for me and my baby was stay stress-free. I read in the internet that it was bad for the mother and the child to stress, I wasn't going to put that theory to the test.

As I thought about the fact that I didn't have anyone to help me out, I felt sadness come over me.

I just had myself and my baby. I thought over it. I didn't _not _have anyone in the whole world, but what good would that she do? I didn't know where my mother lived. I didn't know if she was even in the United States anymore.

As I remembered her and my baby brother, tears rolled down my cheeks. She had left because of me. And Jeb.

Here's what hapenned:

_I was ten years old. It was after school, around six or seven in the evening, it was almost completly dark out._

_I was in my father's lab with him. I remember being shirtless with a very tiny bra on. My dad was standing behind me, I was sitting on a stool with my wings out. He was inspecting them with curiosity. My wings weren't as large as they are now. Back then the wingspan was six, maybe seven feet long._

_I couldn't fly with them yet. They were just sitting there, looking pretty._

_After school, I always went to my dad's lab. Science had been my second worst subeject in school ( ironically ), but I was still fascinated with the things my father did. My dad worked things I liked to call "miracles." He used to be my hero, even when he injected me with bird DNA and gave me wings. I forgave him. _

_Anyway, he helped me do my homework. Then a couple months before my mother left us, he'd asked me if I wanted to help him with a new experiment._

_I had been really excited. Helping daddy out? Thinking it was my lucky day, I told him yes. To let's get started. _

_He'd gone to find something, I was taken by surprise. I had been sitting, waiting for him, when a shot was placed on my arm. I'd screamed out but consciousness had taken me._

_I woke up with wings and afterwards I kept my word. I helped Dad out. _

_This particular afternoon, my father was figuring out a formula to help me use my wings like they were meant to-for flying. _

_I was busy reading a book in my lap and my father was examining my wings when my mother quietly entered the basement. This is what she: she saw him standing behind me, her first-born, with a pair of things that look like wings. What do you think she did? What every logical person would do. She screamed._

_I glanced up from my lap. _

_"Hi, Mom" were the last words I ever said to her._

_I'd totally forgotten about the pair of wings in my back and the fact that I was half naked._

_She ran up the basement stairs screaming and locked the basement from the inside._

We later discovered that she had taken a luggage full of clothes, her purse and my baby brother, Ari. He had only been eight or nine months old.

That was really hard on us because my dad and I really depended on her. I was really attached to her, like most kids are to their mothers and I kept waiting and hoping that she would come back. And my father depended on her like any husband would. She was the one did most of the house chores like cooking the food, doing the laundry, taking care of me and the other things wives did, plus filled his other needs as a man.

After she left, my father became really depressed and- wait. That's beside the point.

I thought back to that day and wandered- as I had so many times before. What had made her take the decisions that she took? If I had been in her shoes, would I have left my daughter with my husband and ran away with my tail between my legs? Had she done it because of the wings? There's a very high possibility that that was what tipped her off. Maybe she'd thought that I was possesed. That I wasn't her daughter- the child that she'd carried in her body- anymore.

I tried to see it from her persepective, but I failed every time.

Every time I asked myself the quesion, would I have done what she did? the answer every time was no. Of course not. But I only saw it from my perspective. I knew what really was going on. And I also knew what would happen to me later on, after she'd left.

I know it isn't fair, but in my mind, I blame her. It's all her fault. If it wasn't because she'd left me, I wouldn't have to go though years of feeling an empty spot where the love of and from my family was supposed to be. I wouldn't have had to become a slave. I wouldn't have had become pregnant...

But it was also my fault and Jeb's.

There really wasn't much to be complaining about right now. Because of this child, I'd gathered strengh and left my own personal hell.

As I stood up and started my day, I made a promise. A promise to myself and to my baby. Whatever happened, no matter what, I would always be there for my child. I would protect it from anything and everything that wanted to hurt him or her. I would be there... no matter what...

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><p><strong>AN: So? What do you think? Come on, tell me! It was way better than the first chapter wasn't it? I think that I was pretty successful in spicing it up.**

**It was also pretty long too... **

**I want at least 8 reviews for this chapter.**

**REVIEW!**

**XOXO,**

**emeralgreenlove. **


	3. Aileen

**Freedom**

**Chapter Three: Aileen**

Last on Freedom:

_There really wasn't much to be complaining about right now. Because of this child, I'd gathered strength and left my own personal hell._

_As I stood up and started my day, I made a promise. A promise to myself and to my baby. Whatever happened, no matter what, I would always be there for my child. I would protect it from anything and everything that wanted to hurt him or her. I would be there... no matter what..._

XxX

A couple weeks went by and my life changed drastically. Imagine having to spend all your time being your father's slave/wife/slut. It's a lot of work and you never actually have much time to yourself. The only thing I ever did out of pleasure was occasionally read, because everything else was tied one way or another to Jeb. Anyhow, now all of this was lifted from my shoulders and I got the right to do whatever I wanted to do with my life.

But this drastic change wasn't _all_ good. I had so much more responsibility now. I knew that I had to fend for myself and watch out for _them _(well, thankfully Jeb had taught me how to fight when I was younger and I kept up my fighting habits, fighting once in a while while Jeb was busy in the lab and I didn't need to do anything. Which, by the way, wasn't very often. But I think I cached up on what I'd been missing out on the last couple of weeks.)

I spent some time doing research on the computer. I learned pretty interesting things about being pregnant in general and being pregnant with the child of your father. I was a little excited about the baby. I mean, I'm going to have my _own_ baby, my _own_ son or daughter, how can you not be at least a little bit excited about that? Even if it_ is _your half-sibling. Anyhow, like any other normal person, I was concerned and worried about having my baby born with mutations. Once Jeb had mentioned that mutations and all that stuff were a myth, but what did _he _know? By the end of my investigation I was really angry at myself for doing the stupid research and being all curious and worried. It turned out that Jeb was right and that my baby would apparently come out fine. I prayed that it was _really _true and that it wasn't just a cruel joke of fate.

I spent part of my time working in a hotel as a maid and on the rest of my free time I would eat, sleep and shower.

Now _that_ was my life, but it was at least a little bit better and I didn't have Jeb forcing me to do anything...Oh and I forgot to mention a few things on the list of things that I spent my time in: puking and talking to someone who became my friend. She was one of the guests I was a maid for. Slowly, I told her almost all about my past. She promised me that no one would know anything about what we talked, unless I was planning on killing or harming myself.

I told her everything from having my father experimenting on me from a young age (I left the wings part out, but experimenting on a child itself was an offense against the law) to having been sexually abused and being pregnant with my father's child.

Why tell someone the secrets of your life? you may ask. Well, Aileen is a special woman and you can't help but trust her. She kind of reminds me of my mom. She's kind, caring, friendly and a good listener. While I spilled my secrets out to her, she listened and didn't judge me or interrupt me.

After about five weeks of knowing her, more or less, she started persuading me to leave her help me out. Eventually she persuaded me and I let her lead the way into "our brighter future." Now I was about four or five months old. One day I only had a small food-sized bump and the next day it bloated up into a small ball. I quit my job after I got my last paycheck and packed things up. Now I'm not an idiot as you may or may not have started thinking. I thought things through again and again and if anything fail along the way I'd still have my knife on me.

Now I'm just heading into another part of the country on Aileen's car. She had told me many times about her best friend, the woman's house I was going to. She had two adoptive kids around my age named James and Monique. I was going to stay at her house until Aileen could get me more help, maybe then me and my baby could move in with her. I was very nervous, but this was what I'd wanted right?

XxX

**A/N: I know this chapter is short and sort of like a filler, but is the most I've been able to write in a while. Now I got a very important announcement.**

**I will put all my stories on hiatus, but that does not mean FOREVER, so please be patient with me.**

**I need 11-12 reviews for this chapter.**

**REVIEW!**

**emeralgreenlove. **


	4. AN

**Hello my lovely friends from all my different stories.**

**I'm putting all my stories on hiatus so that I can have more time to concentrate on my most important story, one that I will try and publish in the future. Please understand that this is very important for me and that though I love all my readers I'll have to be a bit selfish and do what's best for me. **

**I hope you understand my decision-it's only temporary!**

**I still might occasionally update like in my b-day (Jan. 19th) or Christmas or whatevs but don't expect me to update all the time.**

**I hope that when I make my comeback you'll still want to read my stories.**

**Forgive me.**

**XOXO,**

**emeralgreenlove.**

**P.S. I will probably delete this as soon as I get back to regular updatings, so don't bug me about it.**


	5. Story And I Meet My New Family

Freedom

Chapter 4: I'm Told The Story Behind The Face And I Meet My New Family

Last on Freedom:

Now I'm just heading into part of the country on Aileen's car. She'd told me many times about her best friend, the woman's house I'm going to. She has two adoptive kids around my age named James and Monique. I was going to stay at her house until Aileen could get me more help, then maybe me and my baby could move in with her. I'm very nervous, but this is what wanted right?

XxX

"Max. Max, wake up honey; we're here," Aileen's voice penetrated through my dream.

At least it wasn't my usual nightmare with the Erasers and the Whitecoats. My dream had been a good one-one I hadn't wanted to come to an end.

It had been of my baby boy. I'm not sure what gender my baby is, but in my dream it was a beautiful baby boy that reminded me of Ari. I had been in a clearing in the middle of the woods, I was spinning around happily with my newborn baby in my arms.

As I woke up I longed for the excitement and joyfulness I'd had in my dream.

It had been a really long time since I felt as happy as I was in my dream. My life was bleak in comparison to my dream. I hope I can feel the same way sometime soon.

I glanced at Aileen, who was in the driver's seat, and absentmindedly rubbed my belly.

Aileen was practically bouncing in place while I was full of nerves.

"So are you excited, Max?" she asked.

I smiled a small smile.

"A little, but I'm just so nervous," I replied truthfully.

My eyes widened as I felt a kick from inside my stomach. My eyes went down to my stomach and I started rubbing it again.

"Is something wrong?" Aileen asked concerned.

I looked at her with a wide smile.

"My baby just kicked. For the first time."

I let out a very girlish squeal ( which was very unusual for me ) and started clapping my hands in glee ( also unusual for me ).

"Congratulations Max!"

Aileen took her seat belt off and hugs me, which I gladly return. I haven't been hugged in forever and I feel love radiating out of her. The motherly-like love I'd been missing out on this last couple of years.

"Alright. It's getting late now. Let's get you to your new home and to your new family."

She disentangled herself from me and got out of the car. I, too, get out of the car with my backpack over my shoulder.

"Hey A., before we go in there can I ask you something?"

"Of course Max. Ask away."

"Do you have children? And do you plan on adopting us? Later on."

Aileen looked away.

"I once had a son," she began. I didnt say anything. "He was going to be three years old when God took him from me. I wasn't a very good mother to him, so I figured 'hey, at least he's well off now'. One day I was in my house complaining about all the work he was, and the next day I lost him in a matter of seconds." She raised her face from the ground, looked at me in the eye and continued her story. "I, too, was a teenage mother, Max. It may be a lot of overwhelming work, especially at such a young age, but remember that children are a blessing from God. And what He gives you, He can also take away."

She paused and started talking again.

"I don't know if I will ever forgive myself for not being the best mother I could have been, and while my parents still let me live in their house, they never really supported me or helped me much. I felt so alone and helpless at the time. And without meaning to, I took some of my stress out on my poor baby boy. I never actually hitted him or anything, but I yelled at him a lot and often wished that I hadn't had I hadn't risked having unprotected sex. Inside I was still a child. I was a year older than you. I was sixteen, but all I wanted was to was have fun and act like all the other teenagers. Even though you're younger than I was, I believe you're way more mature then I was back then. And I believe you'll make choices, unlike me. As to if I'll adopt you guys, I don't know. I really have to think consider it. It's not that I don't like you, because I'm not sure if I'm ready for the responsibility.

You're a wonderful young woman, Max. You're smart, strong and I'm more than sure that you're one of the most mature people I've ever encountered, but i don't want to get into ot blind. You-"

"I understand," I said softly.

Her guilty expression turned joyful and she smiled.

"Good. By the way, James, or Iggy, as they call him, really is blind, so if I were you I wouldn't make any comments he'd consider offensive."

I smiled back.

"'Kay."

"Lets go now. They really want to meet you. And I'm sure you want to meet them too."

I followed her to the porch and waited patiently for someone to come to the door as I shifted my weight from foot to foot.

"Hi Aunty Aileen-y!" A mocha-colored girl squealed as she threw her arms over Aileen.

"Hello, Monique," Aileen replied.

The girl, Monique, shook her head unapprovingly.

"Aunty, I've told you a millions of times, it's Nudge."

Aileen smiled, shook her head in amusement and turned toward me.

"Max, this is my goddaughter, Monique. Or Nudge, as you heard her say.

Monique, this is my friend, Max. The one I've been talking to you and your mother about for the last couple of weeks."

Aileen hadn't even stopped talking when Monique threw her around me in a hug when (which I didn't really return, but she didn't even seem to notice ) and after she let me go, she took my wrist and dragged me along to inside the house. She began talking so fast I could barely make out the words.

"I'm so excited to have you here! I've never had a sister, even though I've always wanted one. I hope we can be like best friends..." and kept on going and going until we got to the kitchen. Where there was a woman and a teenage boy about my age.

"Hello, I said in a small voice.

Once I had their attention, I felt overwhelmed with shyness.

"Nudge, you've scared the poor girl already" the blonde woman said.

Nudge (what sort of nickname is that?) let go of my hand and smirked. She let out a giggle and went to stand by her brother.

"How does she look like?" he asked Nudge.

His mother smacked him and walked over to me.

"Hello. I'm Anne Walker." She smiled warmly. That moment I decided that I would really give her a chance.

I shook her hand.

"Maximum Ride."

Throughout the rest of the night I grew to like her more and more.

Aileen stayed for dinner and helped me unpack my suitcases. The longer Aileen stayed the more I grew jealous of my new family. Aileen was practically this boy's and this girl's aunt and I felt left out. But then I started feeling guilty. Just because my father only paid attention to me and to me only doesn't mean everybody's going to be like that with me.

Besides, Aileen has spent enormous amounts of time with me and she's been SO nice. And I'm not even related to her or anything.

After dinner I directly went to bed, even though everybody else was staying up late.

I learned a few things about my adopted family.

The boy, James, is a freaking PERVERT ( he even asked me if I liked going all the way. I blew him off though).

And the girl talks a lot. I learned she was adopted from a crack house (when she was one) and where she was abused. Her mother was a crack addict. And besides talking, she likes singing (something we surprisingly have in common).

Now I'm really sleepy. I closed my eyes and was glad to be embraced by the blackness that always comes with being unconscious.

XxX

emeralgreenlove:

I hope you guys liked it. It's not my favorite chapter, and it was more like a filler but next chapter will be when Max meets the Jeffersons.

The next chapter will be named: I Meet An Emo-Looking, His Angel-Looking And His Witch Of A Mother

To the X-factor fans: Remember Rachel Crow? Well, Nudge's early life story is basically the same as hers.

Thank you everyone who reviews/favorites/alerts/understands my reas


	6. I Meet An Emo Looking Dude & His Family

Freedom

Chapter 5: I Meet An Emo-Looking, His Angel-Looking Siblings And His Witch Of A Mother

Last on Freedom:

Now I'm really sleepy. I closed my eyes and was glad to be embraced by the blackness that always comes with being unconscious

XxX

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

I was surprised that I wasn't awoken by my alarm clock or morning sickness but by a girly voice.

"Max wake up!"

I move onto my side and open my eyes.

I motion for her to come over and she sit down on the edge of the bed.

"Wat'cha want girly?" I asked.

"Get up. Momma's about to leave for work and she wants to talk to everyone at breakfast."

I nodded, took a deep breath and got up. I chose my outfit and was about to change when Nudge decided to squeal.

I turned around.

"Que paso?" I said turning around, then I shook my head and repeated myself in English. "I mean, what happened?"

"Your clothes are so cute! Can I try some on?"

I'd never had someone to ask me that so I smiled and nodded. This must be something friends and sisters must do all the time.

"Sure, knock yourself out, but some of them might be way too big as I'm pregnant and taller than you."

"Okay. Meet you in five."

She skipped down the hallway and went down the stairs.

I closed the door and changed into an orange, mid-thigh summer dress with a light brown pair of leggings and an even lighter brown pair of boots.

I compared myself to when I left my house and the difference is huge. I have grown a huge belly, my feet have swelled up as have other parts of my body, and my personality has also slightly changed.

I kiss the tip of my fingers and rub my belly. I really can't wait until my baby's here.

"Good morning, Maximum," Anne says when I get to the kitchen.

"It's Max. Good morning to you too Anne."

"I hope you like breakfast. Iggy made it since I at cooking."

I nodded.

"Hold on, isn't Iggy blind?" I ask confused.

"Yes I am," he replied as he sat down a plate full of bacon, eggs and hash brown in front of me.

"Then how can you cook and be so precise about where things are?" I asked curiously as I sat down.

"Cuz I'm just that awesome," he said and winked, going back to his work.

Does he have a thing for me or something? 'Cuz that would really be gross. I mean, it's not that he's bad looking, or that I have something against blind people or anything, but I don't get butterflies in my stomach, or think he's like the best thing since sliced bread or something. I've only experienced that with my ex-crush, Brian, and that ended once my father took me out of school and I never got a chance to see him again.

I noticed that Anne was saying something and I'd just totally spaced out.

"What?" I said. "I'm sorry, but I didn't hear much of what you said as I was thinking."

She smiled.

"I understand that. Eat up, your food's going to get cold. And my son has his own ways of getting around. He knows the house pretty well, as he's been here since he was a small child. And to be honest with you, I don't really know how he cooks. One day I left him and Nudge alone and when I came back, they were eating homemade food."

"Okay."

I ate my breakfast, but to be honest, it didn't really fill me up.

The Walkers talked as they ate and really made me feel welcomed. I love how they try their hardest to make me feel at home (which they do a really good job doing since I'm not very trustful)

Soon enough was time for Anne to leave for work and I was left in a house with two (almost) complete strangers.

Iggy and Nudge wandered around the house and I stayed down in the kitchen washing the dishes as I was so used to it. I was almost done when Nudge came into the room speaking loudly, which almost made me drop a ceramic plate.

"Hey Max! Guess what?"

Then she got a confused look on her face, from behind Nudge came Iggy, who put his hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Nudge?"

"She's doing the dishes," she said like she didn't believe it. What was so unbelievable about doing the dishes? Don't they do the dishes?

"So?" I asked. "Don't YOU do the dishes?"

"Yeah, but around here we all hate doing it," Iggy replied.

"Gotcha."

"Do you want to go to the neighbors' with us?" Nudge asked.

"Actually, Mom said we have to take her with us so she doesn't feel lonely,"

Iggy said.

"You guys don't HAVE to bring me along if you don't want to," I said, wiping my hands in a small washcloth. "Besides, I'm used to being alone all the time, so you don't have to worry about me. Go on. Have fun. I'll be okay."

Nudge and Iggy shared a look (how can Iggy do that?) and both grabbed one of my arms and led me outside, closing the door behind us.

"So, who are these people I'm going to meet?" I asked, trying to make conversation with my new 'siblings'. Thinking of my real sibling made my heart start to ache.

"Just some of our closest friends. We've known since we were little. We all go to the same school. And- oh, there they are," Nudge said.

Some figures came our way and I lowered my eyes out of habit.

Three different 'hi's were heard. One of them belonged to a little girl and the other voices were of boys. Though they were very different. One of them was light and cheerful and the other one was deeper and more masculine.

"So this is the new Walker? Your new sister?" the masculine voice said.

I glanced up at the boy with a knot in my throat.

He has black hair, dark eyes and olive skin. His whole outfit is black, even though the sun isn't exactly covered in clouds and it's June.

He had been the one who'd asked the questions.

Besides him was a cute little girl and boy who looked more like each other than they looked like the older boy. Maybe they were his stepsiblings? All the thinking about siblings isn't doing me any good. It really just adds to all the stress riding on my shoulders.

"Hi," I said and put my hand out to shake (something I'd never done before).

"Maximum Ride. Call me Max though."

Before we get on with the story, I want to clear something up. My birthname is NOT Maximum Ride. My birthname is Maximum Batchelder (sounds pretty lame right?), but since Aileen works for the government, she hacked in and got me a new birth certificate. I changed my last name, since it's pretty bad to not only live with what my father has done to me, but also with his name. Aileen understood that and made me the favor to erase my history with him- at least legally. According to my birth certificate, I had no father. My mother was Valencia Martinez.

He stared at my hand until I put it down.

"Fang," the boy said.

"My brother doesn't speak much. My name's Angel, and this is Gazzy,"

she-Angel-pointed at her other brother. "And that is Total."

Angel pointed at a little black dog who was chasing his own tail.

The dog stopped chasing his tail and put his wet nose in my boot. I crouched down and petted him. I almost instantly fell backwards. I forgot for a second I was pregnant.

"Little help here, guys," I said. "Baby in my stomach, 'member?"

Iggy put his arms beneath my pits and pulled me up.

"Thanks, Iggy," I said.

"You have a baby in your tummy?" a sweet little voice asked. The little girl.

Shoot. I forgot that we weren't alone.

"Uh, yeah," I answered, feeling unusually shy. Not many people had asked me that, and now I was in the real world. How was I supposed to act? What was I supposed to say?

I peeked beneath my lashes at the girl named Angel.

"How did the baby get in there?" she asked me.

"Well... " I started off awkardly, trailing off.

"If that's true, then I don't want my kids to hang around you," a woman around her late twenties or early thirties said in a sneering fashion.

"Excuse me?" I said putting as much attitude into the two words as possible.

"You heard me, girl. Don't sass me. Stay away from my kids. They don't need any bad influences around."

The woman wasn't very pretty. She had a tan, her hair was died and she more bling on and make up than I've ever seen on a woman.

"Mother, she's Anne's new daughter," the tall boy said.

"Anne didn't mention anything about a new daughter, Nicholas," she said in a mean, stuck-up ** way, all while staring me down. "Especially not one like this one."

She nodded at me.

"Look, I don't really give a damn about what you think about me, but I'm tired of fighting and I definitely am not going to waste any energy on you."

"Can one of you give me the keys?" I asked, turning to my siblings and tuning out what Mrs. Witch was saying.

"I don't have them," Iggy said. "Nudge usually carries them around."

I turned toward her to find her with a sheepish grin.

"Well, I was so exited that Max was going to meet the guys that I sort of...

uh, forgot them."

"Well, I'll just go to the beach."

I started walking backwards.

"Mom told me to tell you not to go there," Nudge said.

"Fine. I'll wait in the shade of the porch."

"But-" Nudge started out.

"But nothing. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. I'll be fine."

I didn't wait for her response and jogged towards the Walkers' house-it's my house now too I guess.

I leaned against the door and closed my eyes.

XxX

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes opened immediately to meet black eyes and an olive toned face.

I flinched and hit my head on the wall behind me. I put my hand on the back of my hand and felt around for a bump or blood. When I was sure there was nothing wrong with my head, I glanced at the person who'd shaken me away.

It was the teenage boy who was friends with Nudge and Iggy. What was his name again?

"Hi?" I said.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Who are you again? What's your name again?"

"Fang. Max, right?"

I nodded, not quite sure if I was comfortable or not with this stranger sitting close to me.

"I'm sorry about my mom. She can be a bit nauseating at times, can't she?"

I nodded slowly.

"Are all moms like that?" I asked.

"No. My mom is just her own person. Moms ARE protective of their kids but they don't go to ridiculous extremes like my mom did. She was a teenage mom too by the way, so I don't know why she acted like she did. Didn't you have a mom?"

"Yes, but that's something I'd rather not get into."

Silence grew between us and I absentmindedly rubbed my belly.

Even thought I'd seen him look quickly at my bloated belly, he avoided looking downward.

"I brought you a burger," Fang said, taking an aluminum-wrapped object that was resting beside him. The burger.

"Cool. Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm not eating anything your mom touched or made," I finished saying and looked away.

"Good," Fang said beside me. I noticed a goofy grin on his face when I looked at him. " 'Cuz Iggy and I made these."

XxX

Fax has begun! Wooh!

REVIEW!

XOXO,

emeralgreenlove


	7. Crazy Morning

Freedom

Chapter Six: Crazy Morning

**A/N: Hey, y'all : ) I hope you're still with me even though I haven't updated in a while and I might have lost some of the "I know this character oh so well" I used to have, but I hope you all will still want to keep reading : ).**

Last on Freedom:

_Silence grew between us and I absentmindedly rubbed my belly._

_Even thought I'd seen him look quickly at my bloated belly, he avoided looking downward._

_"I brought you a burger," Fang said, taking an aluminum-wrapped object that was resting beside him. The burger._

_"Cool. Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm not eating anything your mom touched or made," I finished saying and looked away._

_"Good," Fang said beside me. I noticed a goofy grin on his face when I looked at him. "'Cuz Iggy and I made these."_

XxX

My stomach grumbled. I looked down at it and then at Fang's outstretched hand.

"Fine," I muttered and took the wrapper package from Fang's hand.

I opened it and was about to bite it when an idea occurred to me. I glanced sideways at the boy sitting next to me. He was looking at me quietly with a calm expression.

"You take a bite out of this first," I said and handed him my first burger (there were two).

Fang frowned at me and hesitantly took a bite out of it, then handed it back to me. As he gave it back to me, I made sure not to meet his eyes or let our hands have any contact.

I watched him closely for a few seconds then took a bite out of it myself.

After that, both the burgers went down in a matter of minutes. All the while, I felt Fang's eyes on me.

"Thanks," I said.

I balled up the foil and pulled my legs to my chest.

Fang still hadn't said anything. He looked deep in though and on his own world.

"So...how long have you known my new brother and sister? They seem pretty cool, but I haven't spent much time with them."

"They're cool alright. Known for about eight or nine years."

"Cool."

We both stayed quiet.

"Um," I said, "thanks for the food and everything, but I—I have to go."

His dark eyebrow rose up into his hairline, as if asking 'go where?', but didn't voice his thoughts. Fang got up as I tried to do the same and offered me his hand. I wanted to be my stubborn old self and say 'No, thanks', but my stomach was way too big for me _not_ to need help. As he pulled me up, I almost fell backward, but he pulled me to him and prevented my fall.

"Thanks," I said, as I let go of his hand and felt heat rise to my face. "I'll see you around."

"See you around," I heard him whisper as I left.

I looked over my shoulder as I walked away to find the mysterious boy looking back at me. I turned around and smiled to myself.

I walked around for a while until I was sure that Anne would be home (I even got to stretch out my wings for a bit). It was already dark.

I followed the GPS on my phone back home, and let me just say, thank the genius who invented them 'cuz otherwise I was sure a big fuss would have been made and people would have been sent after me. Geesh, these people take my safety as a life or death thing, and to be honest, it was really nice to know that people actually cared about me for once.

XxX

I woke up once again to Nudge's yells. I groaned and had enough time to brush my teeth and wash my face before she dragged me down the stairs to the kitchen. I groaned yet again when I noticed we had company.

Everyone looked up from their breakfast plates as I came in. I felt so embarrassed. Everyone else looked nice while I had my hair in a lousy bun, a ratty big, white T-shirt that seemed to only enlarge my baby bump and some cotton short-shorts paired with flip-flops. Now if I were you, I would be asking myself, who is 'everyone'? Well, that would be the rest of my adopted family as well as Fang, his siblings and his mother as well as Anne.

"Here, Max," Nudge said and pointed at an empty chair. "You can sit next to Fang."

I raised an eyebrow at her, but sat down anyways, laying my head down on my arms and closing my eyes, falling into an almost sleep.

"Max. Max!" someone yelled.

I shot up like a bullet and noticed that everyone was looking at me yet again.

Iggy passed me a plate full of eggs.

The smell cursed through me instantly, and I got up quickly as the nausea hit me. I had enough time to reach the garbage can before I threw up my dinner. I covered my face and ran out of the kitchen and up to the bathroom. I breathed in and out. I brushed my teeth and slid down the bathroom door.

"Max!" two female voices yelled worriedly through the door. Anne and Nudge.

I opened the door a little.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Anne asks, with that motherly concern written all over her face. "I mean, I can bring you your breakfast up if you're not feeling alright, but I wanted to present you to my friend."

"Yes, I'm sure, let me just get dressed and I'll go back downstairs. Sound good?"

"Of course."

XxX

As I got dressed up in a pair of maternity shorts and a white, flowy tank top that Aileen had bought me I thought back to the first times I'd been sick, before I knew that I was pregnant. A moment I was feeling alright, then I felt so ill that I couldn't stand on my own two feet and then back to normal.

The thoughts brought forward the memory of my own mother running to the bathroom, and afterwards the face of my father. Something about him led me to believe that he knew what he had done to me, that he had impregnated me, and that he had done it on purpose. I shivered and went down stairs again as quietly as I could.

I slipped into the kitchen unnoticed for the most part.

"Max!" Angel whispered excitedly as I sat back down in my spot between her and her brother.

I smiled at her and dug into my food as she began talking excitedly about how excited she was about having me around. At some point she started asking about the baby.

"What's the baby's name? Is it a boy or a girl?" she continued excitedly.

"I don't know the baby's name or its gender, but I think it might be a boy," I replied. "What do you think?"

"I want it to be a girl!" she said, the excitement obviously showing on her face.

"Do you want to feel it move around?"

"It moves?" she asked in shock, getting everyone's attention, but the grown ups' who were in the living room.

"Yeah, it moves, sweetie, wanna see?"

She nodded eagerly and I grabbed her hand, putting it on top of my stomach. Angel squealed happily as she felt my baby move. I smiled knowingly as she looked up at me in amazement as she continued to feel around my stomach.

"Well, look what the wind has brought in," Angel's mother said snidely as she came alone into the kitchen. She was looking directly at me. "Angel, David, Nicholas, we're leaving."

Angel looked at me sadly and at Nudge and Iggy the same way. She got up and went up to her mother, holding on to her hand.

"Come on, Nicholas, David, we have to go."

"Mother, I promised James and Monique that we would _all_ go together to the festival. You said that we all could and you never opposed to me taking Ange and Gaz. I _promised, _so why can't we now?"

"You know _why_," she spat back, narrowing her eyes at Fang, who was now her only child still at the table. "Don't call your brother by anything _other _than by his name, Nicholas, and let's go. _Now."_

Fang glared at his mother and put his arm over the top of my chair. I was surprised, but continued to watch the scene in front of me unfold and kept my thoughts to myself.

"If this is about_ Max_, I don't know why you insist on being so mean without even getting the chance to know her. You know absolutely nothing about her yet you insist on being horrible. All of the teenage girls who get pregnant ain't gonna be like you, Mom, who used to be drunk and stupid and irresponsible."

I was really surprised that he was fighting with his mother about _me_, somebody who he'd barely met opposed to the person who had given birth to him, raised him and loved him.

If he had been my child, I would have probably done worst than just keep glaring at him and ushering him out.

"Nicholas, don't make me go over there and drag your butt out."

Fang did nothing more than study and smirk.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mother. If Anne kicks me out and doesn't want me here, than so be it, I don't care. I made a promise to my friends and to my siblings and I'm not going to break it even if the devil himself tried to kill me and prevent me from keeping that damn simple promise."

"What's going on?" Anne asked as she came into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if I was loud enough that you overheard me, but Nicholas just doesn't want to get his butt up and move."

She turned her eyes back to Fang. Her glare hadn't softened.

"Move your ass, Nicholas. Now."

Fang rolled her eyes.

"Aunt Anne, can I ask you some things?" Fang asked.

Anne studied him for a moment then nodded.

"For how long have all of us been planning to go to the festival together? A long time, right? My mother is trying to make me break the promise I made all because she doesn't like Max. I hate to be like this, Aunt Anne, but my mom is being judgmental and judging Max 'cuz she just feels like she needs to take her anger out on somebody and unfortunately it had to be my newest friend and your daughter. Can you talk to her? Please, Aunt Anne?"

Anne glanced at Fang, then his mother.

"Maura, can I speak to you? Outside?"

Maura sighed and nodded.

A couple minutes later Maura came back with a defeated look.

"Go get ready, kids," Anne said. "We're going to the festival."

XxX

**I know you're probably a little disappointed, but I'm rusty! Please vote on the poll I have on my profile. Tell me some ideas. Maybe some fax moments, it could be some Angel-Gazzy/Max moments, it could be a baby/Max moment and it could definitely be anything else that you find cute and fitting. I will update soon if you give me some encouragement and ideas. So far, all I have is that next chapter a certain red head is going to appear. Please PM me or review your ideas 'cuz I would love to hear your input and what not.**

**REVIEW!**

**XOXO,**

**emeralgreenlove.**


	8. Festival

Freedom

Chapter Seven: The Dreaded Festival

**Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed (I got 8!). In this chapter and maybe the next (I'm not very sure how it's going to play out yet) you will see some ideas that were thrown out and definitely some are going to be used in the future, but I don't want to spoil the surprise (thank you to all of my reviewers! Love ya!), ****and I hope you enjoy seeing how this plays out as much as me : ).**

Last on Freedom:

_"For how long have all of us been planning to go to the festival together? A long time, right? My mother is trying to make me break the promise I made all because she doesn't like Max. I hate to be like this, Aunt Anne, but my mom is being judgmental and judging Max 'cuz she just feels like she needs to take her anger out on somebody and unfortunately it had to be my newest friend and your daughter. Can you talk to her? Please, Aunt Anne?"_

_Anne glanced at Fang, then his mother._

_"Maura, can I speak to you? Outside?"_

_Maura sighed and nodded._

_A couple minutes later Maura came back with a defeated look._

_"Go get ready, kids," Anne said. "We're going to the festival."_

XxX

"Max," Anne said as she came into the kitchen. "Why are you still here? Go freshen up, so that we can leave. We're leaving in fifteen minutes or so."

"Uh, I wasn't aware I was really invited," I said.

"Of course you're invited, Max," Anne said as she sat down next to me, making me turn so that I could see her fully. "I know you might not be used to it, and I may not know your story or what you've gone through, but now you're a part of _our _family and we go everywhere as a family, okay?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, but I don't like Angel's mom and I seriously don't want to get into a fight with her. I'm sick of fighting. You've been really nice and everything to me and I really do appreciate it, but I just want what's best for my baby and I, and right now I don't think it's good for me. I'm serious."

"I talked to her and I will talk to her again later, so don't worry about her. It'll be good for you, I promise."

I shook my head.

"I'll look around town or something if you don't trust me enough to leave me alone in your home yet. My presence at the festival isn't going to do any difference or whatever anyways, so why bother? Go have fun, I'll be fine."

"You should go," a deep voice said.

I looked up slowly to see Fang.

"See?" Anne said. "You _must_ go. I demand you to," she said seriously. When she saw my expression, she added in a light, amusing tone, "I'm serious, Max. Nobody else is going if you don't go." She got up from her seat at the table and said one last comment before turning away. "_Go_ get ready_. Go_."

She mouthed something to Fang, winking at me and left.

I stared straight at the table in front of me and Fang just leaned against the wall in an irritating way. I mean, _seriously_, how the guy can just stand there as if he were one of those models you see in magazines is a mystery to me.

After three minutes worth of silence, it was way too much for me.

"Are you going to do anything _but_ stand there and stare?" I snapped at him, instantly regretting it. I didn't mean to sound so…rude.

"I don't really have much to do," he responded, quietly and patiently. "Can you blame me?"

I rolled my eyes and got up.

"I'm going to go…get something," I said and got up, basically running out of the room.

I didn't like the way he looked at me. It made me want to pull up the top of my shirt even though my breasts weren't exactly on display. He made me feel a little nervous, and all those nerves ended up in the pit of my stomach. Fang also made me feel…it was a pretty weird feeling. I don't exactly know how to describe it, but it's like a part of me knows that I can what? Trust him? Be his friend?

That's ridiculous.

I shook my head and looked around my belongings until I found my sweater. I also grabbed a hold of my messenger bag and put all of my emergency belongings inside: ID, money, a pack of dried fruit, a bottle of water, my phone, a paper bag (for if I got sudden morning sickness) and a book (for if I got bored).

I locked the door to my room and spread out my wings. I shook them out and fell into momentary bliss, closing my eyes even. I _hated_ having my wings packed into my back. It was awful.

Somebody knocked loudly on my door and broke me out of my little fantasy in which I was in a clearing, able to fly freely.

I quickly put my hair into a high ponytail, slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and went down the stairs to meet up with my (still new) family and family friends.

XxX

I'd only been to festivals and carnivals when I was little, but this time it felt…different.

I put my hand on top of my stomach for a brief second and felt my little one kick. Once I'd put on my sweater it was as if there wasn't a bump at all, which I was glad about. If I was going to a festival, it was likely to predict that the whole town would as well. I didn't want to be talked about as the pregnant girl from my first public meeting. I wanted to pretend for a little while.

I looked around quietly while the rest of the group I was in chattered excitedly—well, except Fang. He was a different story entirely.

After a little while of the excited, happy chatter, the mood of the group around me changed—or maybe they just didn't want to speak out anymore. The adults whispered while the kids kept to themselves.

Suddenly I was snapped out of my thoughts as a small, warm hand slipped into mine. I stopped walking, glanced down at little Angel and resumed walking.

"Can I do anything for you, Angel?" I asked a bit stiffly.

"Are you a princess?" Angel asked seriously with a curious expression in her face.

I relaxed and smiled.

"Me?"

She nodded.

I let out a giggle and shook my head.

"Of course not." As soon as the words left my lips I regretted them. This little child should be allowed to dream all she wants. "I mean, inside we are _all_ princesses, but why do you think _I'm_ a princess?"

She looked disappointed for a minute, then smiled and replied, "You are really pretty and you look like what I think a princess should look like."

"Me?" I asked again, still surprised. "You think _I_ look like a princess? I think _you _look like a princess. You're like…like Cinderella junior or something. Seriously, you have the blonde hair, the blue eyes, the light skin—all you need is a sparkly blue dress and a fairy godmother—not that you need 'em anyways."

She grinned widely at me and laughed joyfully.

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do, Angel. I think you're the prettiest little girl I know."

"My daddy thinks so too!" she exclaimed, her smile never faltering. "But all daddies say that, don't they?"

My features turned (hopefully) impassive.

"Uh…um…" I struggled for the words that would simply not come.

In reality, Jeb had never really told me I was _pretty_. He had insinuated it several times, but he had never exactly come out saying it.

"Oh! Do you not have a daddy?" she asked, coming to her own conclusion. "Nudge and Iggy and my older brother Fang don't have a daddy either."

I thought for a second before answering her.

So, Fang didn't have a dad and I remembered him saying that his mom was a teen mother herself. I know I shouldn't care about this people, much less about this Fang boy, but something inside me made me want to know more about him, and that part of me was soaking up all the information I could get.

"Um, yeah. I don't exactly have a daddy, but how come you have a dad and your brother doesn't?"

Gosh, I felt so horrible for using Angel for information, but I really _did_ like her, so it wasn't as if I was _just_ using her. But on the other hand, wasn't that what Jeb did to me? He got information off of me—

"Max?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Fang has a different daddy than me and Gazzy. Are you sad you don't have a daddy?"

"I did have one, Angel, but he wasn't very nice to me, so, no, I don't miss him."

She frowned and continued talking.

"Well, what about your Prince Charming? Where is _he_? Why isn't he here with you?"

I shook my head and asked, "Why do you _assume_ I have a boyfriend?"

"Because Daddy said you need a mommy and daddy to make a baby."

"Ah, er, my-"

"Angel!" Maura shouted.

She jogged back to us and snatched Angel away from me as if I was infected with disease.

"Mom, why can't I talk to Max?" Angel asked. "She's my friend."

"And I'm your mother, Angel," Maura said and gave me a look of disgust. "You stay away from my children, you got it?"

I rolled my eyes and made sure to make a big show of my annoyance.

"You know what?" I said. "I don't care about what you try to do to me. If you try to keep your children away, then they might just defy you." Pause. "In the end, you're the one whose children won't like anyways. I don't know why you hate me, and in the end, it's none of my business, but you don't know my story. You don't know what made me end up in this situation. You don't know _anything_ about me, so before you go on judging me, _think_ a little and get to know me before you just go on assuming I'm some sort of-" I looked at Angel beside her, then mouthed the word b*tch.

Maura looked shocked and started to make a reply, but by the time she had something to say I was already walking away. I wasn't just going to stay there and let her humiliate me any further.

I went back the way we'd come, ignoring the people shouting my name and eventually getting lost amongst the colorful booths and the people around me. Once I was sure that I was thoroughly lost, I stopped walking and leaned against the wall of a booth.

I was _so_ tired of fighting, of waking up only to throwing up, of being everybody's stepping mat—I just wanted to be a normal kid for a little while, just a little. Is that too much to ask? After a while of standing in the same place thinking, I started to walk around the festival. It was really nice, but I just couldn't seem to enjoy it.

I bought food after an hour or so of walking around and sat down in a bench.

I wiped away the tears that had started to fall down and bit into my burger. To me it seemed as if the only thing that happened to me was gain weight and become all emotional.

I didn't really mind being pregnant—I liked the feeling of having a little someone inside me, but I wish I could just do this on my own. I didn't need anybody else. I _liked _having Aileen as my friend, but being otherwise completely independent. I didn't need them, I didn't need to have people to get attached to, then torn away from them once they didn't feel like having me in their home anymore.

"Max!" somebody shouted.

I looked around frantically and spotted what looked like an Eraser. I blinked and stood up, ready for a fight, but he vanished as soon as he appeared.

"Max!" the same somebody from before shouted. His voice sounded familiar and close by.

I double checked for threats and turned to see Fang running up to me.

I waited for him to come closer and waited for his breathing to return to normal. I picked up my cup of soda and handed it to him, who wordlessly accepted it and drank down the remaining soda.

"Oh, Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick," I heard a sweet voice sing out.

That name sounded familiar, but I just couldn't place where I'd heard it from.

"Oh, crap," Fang said and grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him as he started to run again. I frowned, but let him pull me along.

After a while of running around, we stopped and hid behind a booth.

"Okay, what the heck was that?" I asked him. He was panting beside me.

"That…girl…."

Fang was going to continue, but stared at something behind me. A red-headed girl.

"Hi!" the teenage girl said. "Hey, Nick! Nice festival, right?"

"Right," he said, looking around (probably for exits).

The red-headed pretty girl moved closer to Fang and started speaking to him so lowly I couldn't hear. I looked away and two seconds after the girl is all over Fang kissing him as if her life depended on it.

After I waited for it to end for a minute or so, I rolled my eyes and walked away.

I finally found the way out of the dreaded festival and found a place where I could fly as freely as I wanted to. Sort of like a secret garden, except that it was more like a secret hideout forest. It was green; it had lots of trees and probably even a river or waterfall.

I laid down in the grass that was wet with mildew and thought about the day when I could be free again. The day I would be able to make a home for my little one and the day where I would come home to my son or daughter and maybe even a husband.

I shook my head.

No, no one would want to settle down with me. I was ugly and fat with pregnancy. I wasn't the smartest in the group and I wasn't useful for anything except for being a lab rat and a stupid maid. I was smart enough to have found my way out of my hell hole, but I didn't even finish middle school. Without my education, I was no one and rarely anybody hired someone without a high school diploma. I was lucky enough to have found a job at the hotel I worked in and for that I had to have fake documents. Nobody would ever want me for _me_. It's time to stop dreaming, Max. No more dreaming.

A tear slid down my face as memories started attacking me, memories that were buried so deep in my memory I didn't even remember they existed until now. We used to be a happy family, but once Jeb started experimenting on me, everything fell apart.

I just hoped everything worked out in the end.

XxX

**Hey! Hope you liked that! Review, please?**

**Oh, and I need some ideas on fluffy scenes, so please keep reviewing on that and tell me your favorite parts, please :). **

**emeralgreenlove.**


	9. Timed Bomb

**Freedom**

**Chapter Eight: **Timed Bomb

Last on Freedom:

_I shook my head._

_No, no one would want to settle down with me. I was ugly and fat with pregnancy. I wasn't the smartest in the group and I wasn't useful for anything except for being a lab rat and a stupid maid. I was smart enough to have found my way out of my hell hole, but I didn't even finish middle school. Without my education, I was no one and rarely anybody hired someone without a high school diploma. I was lucky enough to have found a job at the hotel I worked in and for that I had to have fake documents. Nobody would ever want me for __me__. It's time to stop dreaming, Max. No more dreaming._

_A tear slid down my face as memories started attacking me, memories that were buried so deep in my memory I didn't even remember they existed until now. We used to be a happy family, but once Jeb started experimenting on me, everything fell apart._

_I just hoped everything worked out in the end._

XxX

I walked to Anne's place and thought about home. The only place that had ever felt like home after my mother had abandoned Jeb and I, was the hotel room I'd had, but that had been taken away from me in order to give my little one a better life.

When I escaped home, I'd never thought that we would get help from someone like Aileen. In fact, I hadn't expected any sort of help aside from that which I could get for myself. I was grateful that I had been blessed with what I had been given, though I wasn't too fond of the new environment and people no matter how nice they were.

The sky was a beautiful orange-pink and all the hurt I had ever felt was coming back and piling itself up, making me end up feeling like my heart was being squeezed tightly.

I sighed, frustrated, and wiped away the tears, but just as soon, fresh ones replaced them.

Slowly, Anne's house came into view.

Half of me hoped that Anne and her family were still at the carnival while the other half of me hoped that they had come back, so that I could go up to my room and relax.

Ten minutes or so after I'd sat down in the porch, I noticed a dark shape in the distance. As the dark shape grew, I became aware that it was someone kind of familiar: Fang. I turned my face to the side as he approached me—maybe he wouldn't look closely at my face or question the tears. Hopefully (and most likely) he would just pass by me and go straight to his house.

The red-head flashed beneath my lids and the way she had kissed him—it made me sick to my stomach. It had been disgusting, and it reminded me too much of Jeb's nasty kisses and caresses. The memory also made me go back to wondering why Fang had been searching for me.

"Hey," Fang said and sat down next to me in the porch steps. His voice was deep and husky, but somehow still warm. "I'm sorry that Lissa got in the way of things."

I shook my head, not looking at him, and wiped away the remaining moistness.

"It's nothing," I said. "I understand that your girlfriend wanted to kiss you. I would have just appreciated a warning."

"She's not my girlfriend," Fang informed me. "Lissa's just…obsessed, I guess, and unpredictable. It's what comes with having a girl have the hots for you."

I smiled and stifled a laugh.

"Must be nice," I said jokingly.

"No, it's _really_ not," he said and chuckled, making me laugh as well. After our laughter had died down, Fang asked me, "Hey, do you want to hang out? I don't know we could just watch TV or something. Personally, I'm sick of the drama with my mom. It makes absolutely no sense to me."

"H-hang out?" I stuttered out, my cheerful mood drifting away once again.

"Yeah," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, then paused. "Are you okay? You're shaking."

I looked down at my shaking hands, embarrassed.

'Hanging' with him in front of Anne's house was okay because if he ever got out of control, I could just kick or punch him (if needed) and run away, but in such a cramped little house there was no way that I was going to have a chance to have any control of the situation. With Anne's family, it didn't matter because none of them looked fit enough to hurt me, but Fang…he was a whole 'nother story, and I didn't know if I could handle being with him alone in a confined place.

Once, while I had worked at the hotel, one of the guests, a man in his forties or so, had entered his room just as I was about to leave and tried to thank me for the job while I basically ran out of the room. When he left, I was given a good tip, but the money wouldn't make up for the scare I went through.

"I-I'm f-fine," I shakily stuttered out.

My hands went into my messenger bag and messily looked around for a paper bag, which I, unfortunately, didn't have.

"Max," Fang said. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. "What's wrong? Why are you hyperventilating?"

I shut my eyes, trying to concentrate on slowing my breathing down, but the thought that Fang was in front of me made me feel even more self-conscious.

What would he think of me? Would he think that I was crazy? A lunatic? A freak? Would he tell his siblings and friends about it? Why did the way he viewed me even matter? It really didn't matter period.

My body trembled even more and I decided to give up. I opened my eyes to see Fang directly in front of me, looking down at me as he took a hold of my shoulders and gently shook them.

I guess he was trying to help me snap out of it, but it only worsened my state.

A couple long seconds later (which felt like minutes really), he cupped my face and looked into my eyes.

"Breathe," he commanded softly.

I listened intently to Fang as he talked me out of my panic attack. I tried my hardest to do as he told me and tried to see him as part of my new life, hopefully not a continuation of my old one.

As my ragged breathing slowed down, I noticed how close Fang really was and jumped back a little. Up close I could see little specs of gold in his brown eyes. I'd never really taken in his looks before, but he really had rockin' features. His skin was a beautiful olive tone and though he'd seemed mysterious (and a little suspicious, but not in a supernatural way) when I'd met him, I was already starting to look at him differently.

I was snapped out of my trance as little someone made it his or her mission to kick his or her mommy back into reality. I glanced down at my growing stomach and patted it, silently thanking my baby.

I couldn't trust anybody—I couldn't afford to. For all I knew, Fang could have bad intentions for me—my own father had, why wouldn't he?

_Remember, Max, it hasn't been very long since you met him, _I thought to myself_. You _can't_ trust him; you can't trust _anybody_._

"Did I say something wrong?" Fang asked innocently, still kneeling down in front of me. "Or…?"

I tried to control the quaking in my voice as I said, "Look, it's nothing personal, but I…just…I'd rather wait here for Anne."

"_Oh_," Fang said and got up, starting to pace in front of me.

"Do you know when they're coming back?" I asked and he shook his head.

Only then did I notice the distance between us. I had rarely had any human contact since I ran away from home and I sort of _liked_ having him close, which in itself felt almost unnatural and surreal, but at the same time it felt almost okay for him to touch me. I wondered why that was.

Nevertheless, the contact made my heart speed up, my hands to feel a bit clammy and my stomach to want to eat itself out.

"Do you mind if I wait with you?" Fang asked.

I shook my head.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked after I got sick asking myself the same thing over and over again. "Why are you being so kind to me? Why did you stand up for me? You don't even _know_ me."

Fang wasn't looking down at me, but down at his hands as he fidgeted with his fingers.

"I don't know, Max," he answered as he looked up at me. Maybe it was just me, but I loved the way he said my name. It sounded… sexy coming from him and not masculine at all. Go figure. "There's something that draws me to you, and apparently we have more in common than I thought."

It took me a moment to take his words.

"What, are you secretly pregnant?" I asked sarcastically, and when he didn't reply, said, "I think I can see where you're coming from, but… I don't know how to phrase this, but you just seem too good to be true."

He chuckled, and said, "Thanks."

I nodded and started to unconsciously blush.

"What I meant to say is that you haven't questioned my past, and I've only known you for a little while, but…I don't know. While you're with me, you're completely relaxed and you talk to me as if you've known me forever."

"Yeah. It feels that way. I have a feeling that we're going to be good friends."

"Really? I've never had a friend—not like this anyways."

As soon as I said that, I regretted it. I didn't want him to think I was a freak (which I was). I wanted a fresh start.

"Me neither," Fang said.

From the corner of my eye, I saw him smile. I smiled as well and enjoyed the silence between us.

"Why does your mom hate me?" I blurted out.

"I think my mom hates the fact that your behavior might influence my siblings. She thinks that seeing you pregnant so young will make me and Gazzy want to go and knock up some girls." He shook his head. "She's especially worried about Angel since she's oh so sensitive and fragile. Ange seems to really like you."

"That's nice to know. Angel's such a sweet little girl. I just wish your mom would have gotten to know me before judging me."

Suddenly, a wave of nausea overcame me. I got up and ran to a bush, where I emptied out my stomach.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang running to his house.

_Awesome_, I thought sarcastically. _We're going to be friends forever—I just know it! Especially after I just threw up._

I got some strands of hair out of my face and wiped away the remainders of the awful morning sickness. I drank down some water as Fang came back out of his house with a few items.

"I guess you have it all under control," he said and handed me the napkin, bottle of water and a pack of gum.

I nodded my thanks to him and turned away, embarrassed. My face felt like it was on fire and the humid summer air wasn't exactly helping. I wiped my mouth with the napkin and popped in two pieces of gum.

I went back to sitting in the porch and buried my face in my arms.

"Don't worry about what just happened. I won't tell anyone, if that makes you feel better," Fang said and sat next to me. "Do you want to talk about something else?"

"Sure. What's your favorite color?"

"Black. You?"

"I like black as well as blue and yellow."

"Were you an only child or did you have siblings?"

"I had a little brother once," I said and refused to look at him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

I shook my head and said, "There's no need to be. He was off better than I was." Before the silence got too awkward, I asked, "What's high school like?"

Fang shrugged.

"School is school, no matter how many different ways you put it. Are you starting high school on August?"

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

"I haven't even been here a week. I don't know what my life is going to be like, and I doubt that they'll let someone into high school who's six to seven months pregnant. At the end of the day, I'm just grateful that Anne and her family are nice people; otherwise, we'd be screwed."

"Did you get to live in foster homes before you came here?"

"No. Before this, I'd been living in a hotel and working for it. That's how I sustained myself."

"Max!" Anne shouted as she jogged towards me, and Maura and the other children followed went to her home. "We've been looking for you."

I barely had time to register her words as well as get up before she attacked me in a bear hug.

I mentally shrunk away and pretended she wasn't touching me, but it was a lot harder to keep my breathing from becoming labored.

Fang got up and walked towards his home as Anne began to speak.

"Look, I know Maura hasn't been nice to you, but we've talked and from now on she's going to treat you like she treats my other children. I want you to feel safe and comfortable because you _are_ my child as well. We're all having dinner at their house tonight and I hope you two can work things out."

Was this woman for real? After what I'd gone through with Jeb, I didn't think I could ever find someone who would treat me like their child, trust me and accept me so easily—I had doubts about it. What if when I turned my back, she betrayed me? I couldn't rely on her or trust her entirely. I had to keep in mind that it wasn't just me anymore and I had to think strictly about the child I was carrying in my womb and his or her well-being.

"I'm not exactly feeling well right now—do you think I could go rest?"

"Yes, but keep in mind that we're resolving this problem with Maura by the end of the week."

She smiled kindly at me and gave me the keys to her house.

_It felt as if she had given me a timed bomb and 'we're'? Since when had we become a unit?_

XxX

**emeralgreenlove:**_ I think that as the story goes on, it'll get much better. If you look back at the summary, you'll realize I changed it as I've gotten a better feel of the story, so I hope it'll get you inspired to review :). Tell me what you think about it. If you _do_ review, I'll get you a sneak peek. I would like 15 reviews for this chapter or so, which would be my highest amount of reviews per chapter. _

_By the way, I need more ideas for this story. Even though I have a basic outline of everything, I would still like it if you gave me ideas to close the gaps and the ones you guys sent me were fantastic, so kudos to you, guys :)._

_Oh, and on a final note, Max and Maura may or may not fix up their controversy in the upcoming chapter…_

**REVIEW!**

**~emeralgreenlove.**


	10. Spa Day (Part One)

**Freedom**

**Chapter Nine: **Spa Day (Part One)

Last on Freedom:

_Fang got up and walked towards his home as Anne began to speak._

_"Look, I know Maura hasn't been nice to you, but we've talked and from now on she's going to treat you like she treats my other children. I want you to feel safe and comfortable because you __are__ my child as well. We're all having dinner at their house tonight and I hope you two can work things out."_

_Was this woman for real? After what I'd gone through with Jeb, I didn't think I could ever find someone who would treat me like their child, trust me and accept me so easily—I had doubts about it. What if when I turned my back, she betrayed me? I couldn't rely on her or trust her entirely. I had to keep in mind that it wasn't just me anymore and I had to think strictly about the child I was carrying in my womb and his or her well-being._

_"I'm not exactly feeling well right now—do you think I could go rest?"_

_"Yes, but keep in mind that we're resolving this problem with Maura by the end of the week."_

_She smiled kindly at me and gave me the keys to her house._

_It felt as if she had given me a timed bomb and 'we're'? Since when had we become a unit?_

XxX

"Max! Max, wake up!" female voices yelled.

I groaned and moved onto my back. When I opened my eyes, I was met by the sight of two girls that looked like they were hyped up on sugar.

"What?" I grumbled and moved on to my side since my wings were too delicate to take on the weight for more than a couple seconds.

"Get up, Max!" Angel yelled, followed by Nudge.

"Come on, you _have_ to get up," Nudge whined loudly.

I opened my eyes briefly and said, "And I'm pregnant. Now leave."

"Max, we're going to a spa today, you _have_ to come!" Nudge exclaimed. "You, Mom, Maura, Angel and me! Isn't it awesome?"

"What?" I asked, sitting up abruptly.

"Yeah!" Nudge replied enthusiastically. "Mom thinks it'll be really fun."

I raised an eyebrow at her and thought, '_Oh, yeah, this'll be REAL fun._'

"Besides," Nudge continued, "if you can't come, then _none_ of us will be able to go. Please, Max? _Please_?"

Angel joined Nudge in pleading and soon enough all I could think about was getting them to be quiet.

I shook my head, trying to ignore them and remembered Anne's words. I _needed_ to face Maura, sooner or later and hopefully, she wouldn't start any trouble.

I took a deep breath and said, "_Fine_, I'll go."

The girls squealed and started to jump up and down.

"When are we leaving?" I asked.

"As soon as we finish eating brunch, Nudge replied, "but I would say around ten-thirty at most."

I took my phone from the nightstand and saw that it was nine thirty-four. I got up, stretched and walked toward my closet. Unlike the one back home (well, what once was my home), this closet was smaller, but somehow, that made it cute. I huffed at my choice of words. _Cute. _Who the hell describes closets as cute? Must be the stupid hormones.

XxX

After thirty minutes or so, I came down the stairs, dreading having to face a roomful of strangers. They were all very nice so far, really, they were the type of people who you saw in movies: nice, sweet and innocent (of abuse at least).

With half a heart telling me to go back to my room, I crossed from the living room over to the kitchen and wished I had the superpower of invisibility, but alas, Jeb wasn't _that_ smart to have the ability to give me more than one superpower. Besides, he must have thought that I was too good to have more than one anyway. Maybe he thought I'd outsmart him if he had.

The conversation didn't stop, but everyone looked up at me almost at the exact same time. I glanced down at what I was wearing—a simple T-shirt and jeans—and looked back up at the teens and kids who were looking at me, noticing how they all had nicer clothing than me. Well, at least Fang seemed to be on the same level clothing-wise as I. Everyone else was wearing bright, summer colors as well as shorter and more skin-revealing clothes… At least Maura wasn't around.

"Hi, everyone," I said. "Mornin.'"

"Good morning, Max," Anne said and came up and hugged me. "You seemed tired last night, did you sleep well?"

I nodded.

"Why don't you go sit down?" Anne asked warmly, gesturing toward an empty seat. "I'll get you breakfast."

I nodded once again and sat down, catching pieces of the conversations going on.

"Hey, Max," Angel said, waving at me from across the table.

I smiled at her (gosh, she reminded me so much of Ari) and waved back. I noticed that one of her front teeth was missing, but decided to keep it to myself, seeing as she might take it the wrong way.

"Hey, Max, can you help me with my math homework?" Iggy asked from across the table.

"Isn't it summer?" I rebutted.

I hadn't been to school in a while but I was pretty sure school let out in the summer.

"So?"

"Why do you have homework?"

"It's not really homework. Mom just wants me to keep practice, so I can be ready for the school year."

"Wait, aren't you blind?" I asked, staring at Iggy's sightless blue eyes.

Anne put a plate of breakfast food in front of me, then left the room.

"Yes, I'm blind, Max, but I can still do math and science and language arts like every other normal kid. I get that I'm blind and that's new to you, but if you ever brought that up with another blind kid, he'd get seriously offended, and there are a lot of blind kids in our school."

_Our? _I thought._ I would definitely have to talk to Anne about my education level._

"Sorry, Iggy," I said, hoping I didn't offend him.

He was seriously one of the coolest guys I had met in a while.

"It's fine, Max, but seriously, can you help me with my homework?"

"Iggy, why don't you ask someone else?" I asked, evading the question. "It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that math is not my best subject."

"Fang over there's grouchy and Mom hates algebra. She barely passed it in high school. You're the only other person who could help me, please Max?"

"Okay, I'll give it a try," I found myself saying even though I possibly couldn't have been of much more help than his sister.

"Alright, Nudge, can you write the numbers out?" Iggy asked his little sister and passed along the piece of paper and pen he was working with.

Nudge wrote something in the paper, then passed it down the paper to me. I looked at as if it were the most alien thing in the world. I now understand what he had meant by writing out the numbers: they had previously been in braille.

I stared at the paper, trying to focus and figure out the equation, but I couldn't find a way around it. I stared and stared, but nothing magical happened. Nothing popped out, telling me to follow this direction or that—and I had a mad scientist as a father. I felt my cheeks start to heat up as Fang move slightly toward me and looked over at the paper. I glanced around and noticed that Nudge, Angel and Gazzy had left the room.

"Oh, that's easy," he said and gently took the paper and pencil away from me, starting to do the math in the back of the paper. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out."

"Yeah, well," Iggy replied, "it's summer and today I'm tired. Beating you in video games is hard work, man."

Fang chuckled and continued to work on the math problem as I watched what he was doing. When he finished he looked at me and the blush that had been receding reappeared. It was embarrassing to be caught staring, but I simply brushed it off.

"Ig, so you know how there are two ys?" Fang started and proceeded to talk about how to solve the math problem. I listened intently, trying to catch on to what he was doing, but I didn't know squat about what he had just done.

Once they were done, Iggy did a little verbal cheer and asked Fang back for his paper.

"Can you describe how Max looks, Fang?" Iggy asked, looking in my general direction.

Fang studied me, squinting for a moment.

"Dirty blonde hair," Fang started and my insides started to feel insanely warm, doing flip-flops. "Brown eyes, _oval _brown eyes, fair skin, long, light-brown lashes, brown eyebrows, a small nose, pink lips and she has a beauty mark near her left eye."

"May I feel your face?" Iggy asked.

"What?" I squealed, jumping a feet high in the air, taken by his odd request.

"It's the way I familiarize myself with everyone. I've done it with everyone, not just you."

I glanced at Fang, his face neutral, yet I could see the slight tip of his head toward the teenage boy.

Trying to calm myself down, I got up and move to where Iggy was sitting, sitting next to him and taking his outstretched hand and placing it on my cheek.

"You're tense," he said. "You should relax."

_He's not going to hurt you, he's not going to hurt you, _I chanted. _And if either of them try to hurt you, you have exits you can use._

Iggy's hand explored my face silently, taking his time and stopping at my shoulder.

"Does your baby move around?" he asked.

I nodded, but remembered he couldn't see it, so I took his hand and placed it on top of my belly. Iggy waited patiently and after a little while, his face lit up in recognition.

"That's _awesome_," he said, smiling widely. I was pleasantly surprised to see his blind eyes light up with happiness. "Fang…man, you gotta try this. It's _so _cool."

Fang half-smiled at his friend and shook his head.

"Igs, I don't think Max would appreciate it too much if I did. You get away with it 'cuz you can't see it, that's all. Being blind makes you special, especially in this situation."

"I don't mind," I blurted out, hating to be spoken for. "I already got Iggy on my case, one person is nothing. Might as well get all the belly-hugging over with."

"Are you _sure_?"

"Yes," I said impatiently. "I'm sure."

_Geesh, it's not like you're asking me for sex, _I thought. _Just make your move and quickly._

Fang got up slowly from his chair and took his sweet time to walk over to us. He looked me in the eyes and looked unsure what to do. I extended my free hand, reaching out for his and when he did give it to me, I placed it next to Iggy's.

About a minute later, Iggy asked Fang, "Did you feel it? Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah. The coolest," Fang said, as if he were brushing off my baby's accomplishment. For a minute I wanted to forget that he was a normal, stupid teenage boy and pretend he was Jeb, then pound his face in. "That's why it's called the miracle of life, Igs."

After I got used to their hands on my belly, it wasn't so bad. I was happy that I could share my little miracle with them, even if one of them didn't seem to have the same appreciation for my baby as I did, but then again, they were _just _fourteen-year-old boys. They didn't know what I had gone through and what my baby meant to me, and they would probably never know about it.

XxX

After twenty minutes of driving, we finally stopped at what I assumed was the spa. I went through the motions of getting off the car and following everyone inside. Once we got there, a lady tried to get me into a bathrobe, but I absolutely refused to get into one. Not only was I afraid of making a mistake and letting my avian secret out (and I would no doubt go to a lab, tested on and possibly found by Jeb), but I was also very pregnant and I was sure that in itself wouldn't make for a very pleasant sight. So instead of going into the changing rooms, I stayed back with Iggy, Gazzy and Fang (who were stuck waiting for Gazzy's and Angel's dad).

Iggy and Gazzy were talking while Fang I stood somewhat awkwardly next to each other, he had his hands stuck inside his jean pockets and just as he took out his cell phone, I smelled something terrible. I held my breath in, not sure what it meant or what to do about it. Would it be considered rude if I stealthily placed my hand over my nose and mouth? I could just say I was feeling nauseous, right?

"Gazzy!" Fang yelled.

"What?" the young boy asked, looking innocent.

"You know what I mean," Fang said, "if you got the urge, go outside or something, dude." Fang waved his hand over his face and coughed while Iggy seemed to not be all that affected by it aside from the slight grimace on his face. Maybe he was used to it or maybe he was just being a macho man.

"If anyone asks, I'm going to be outside," I said, and walked away from the cloud of…gas. I opened the door and walked over to a bench in the corner.

I sat down on the bench and breathed in the humid summer air. I didn't know what I was supposed to do—it was like I was a meteorite wondering around Earth, but never quite crashing. I was so lost—when I had decided that I was going to escape my prison, I had a motivation. If I had stayed there, both the baby and I could have possibly undergone more experiments and violence—I didn't want a life of uncertainty and violence for my baby and I, but…I felt so stuck, as if I were standing in quicksand. What was the meaning of my life?

"I think you dropped this," a guy's voice said, a brown feather coming into view.

I glanced up at Fang, who just stood there with a straight face. "Where did you—why are you giving it to _me_?"

"It must have fallen out of your pocket or something. Does it not belong to you?"

He didn't wait for my answer and just put it in my lap, then sat down beside me.

"Thanks," I said, and thought of an excuse that wouldn't give my secret away. "I, uh, enjoy bird watching and sometimes I collect feathers I find."

"Cool," he said. "What are your favorite birds?"

"Eagles and sparrows," I replied. "How about you?"

"Raven," he replied, then glanced at me with a smirk and said, "and angels."

Was he insinuating—? Or was it a cheesy pick-up line? What was going on?

As if he'd heard a cue or something, his neck snapped to the side and glanced inside the spa shop.

"I think they want us back inside," he said and stood up.

I nodded and got up to follow him.

XxX

Author Notes:

_I have seen a blind kid in math class with a type writer and a teacher who's his/her helper, so it's not impossible to learn braille and use the typewriter to do schoolwork._

_Any suggestions on how to get Max and Fang's mom to talk things out are awesome. Thanks for reading and merry Christmas :)._


End file.
